basketcase 750R to daily on a budget

I had been thinking about a bike for a while but didnt have a big budget for one. During my search I came across this Seca for $300. It had been sitting since 94 but the guy promised me it ran. It was sitting on two flats, had all the body work off it and the front brakes were in a box. It was basically piled in a corner of this guys garage. My first real streetbike was an 82 Maxim 650. I rode that bike year round in high school in Oregon. I loved it. This bike looked like a real challenge...but I was hooked. I talked him down to $200 and came back that day with cash and a trailer.

I should have taken a "before" picture. this bike was leaned up on the wall of his garage, all the parts that were off it were just stacked on top of it, it was covered in glass beading dust and spider eggs. I knew my work was cut out for me.


So I got the bike home and laid everything out. It looked like I had a complete bike, with a few spare parts. I soon discovered however that one of the panniers was missing. I had kind of planned to make them optional anyway, but this cemeted plans for stripping the tail naked.

Here is what it looked like after a quick bath:


And I just sort of rested the body parts on to see what it would look like, nothing is actually bolted down here:



This is what the bike would have looked like from the factory with the panniers but minus the trunk. This was the goal (which subsequently changed) I had in mind. I never liked the big ass trunk even though they are quite useful. I dont like passengers so the backrest was pointless as well:



_______________________________


First up before I put any more serious time into making it rideable, I needed to know if it would run. I knew for certain it at least needed a carb rebuild after sitting for so long. I went ahead and broke the rack and boiled the carb bodies in lemon juice. The results were pretty good although it didnt live up to the internet hype, but it got them clean enough to work with.



after boiling:



Thats when I discovered this site. While looking for technical info and where to get parts I stumbled in here and have been lurking since. Im not one to ask to many questions. However, I read as much as I can and try to apply it to my given task. Anyway, I knew I needed some basic soft parts so after a little discussion and a very short wait, Chacal sent the following:




The rebuild wasnt too bad with the exception of that one tiny passage in the bottom of the bowl. I thought for a while that it wasnt even meant to be open. I kept at it with carb cleaner and compressed air and several cores from garbage bag twisty ties I managed to clear all 4 passages. After that the new seals and everything went back together.

Carbs back on the rack after the complete rebuild including new shaft seals:





I installed the carbs back on the bike and put fuel to it. It fired up pretty much immediately. I knew I had tuning and other adjustments to make, but I would say my bench sync was pretty damn good for a first shot:


First start video



I knew it was going to need tuning and lots more work, but I knew I at least has something that would run. That knowledge greenlit me for making the chassis rideable again.

 

Once I had it running I knew there was lots to do to make it safe to ride. The most immediate concern was the fact that front brakes were in a box, the fork seals were shot and there was a nasty flat spot in the steering head. So I just chopped off its head and got to work.



I didnt really take any pictures during the process of rebuilding the front end but suffice to say anti-dive forks are a pain in the ass, and brakes left to completely dry out are a nightmare. Fortunately I had two complete sets of everything minus the forks themselves. I managed to get two working calipers and anti-dive setups, and with new seals and the oil refilled the forks were good as new.

forks going back on:


Forks and brakes back on and working:


the overly complicated "anti-dive" set up:



That was a big step because that pretty much made it rideable. I still went through all the systems inlcuding the electrical and both axles to make sure all the bearings were ok, but it was quickly turning out to be a pretty good little project.


Since I was doing away with the panniers I needed to do something about the rediculous stalks the turn signals were mounted to. No need for them to be way the hell out there:






I had to fabricate some mounts because the original factory rubber ones didnt come in the box of parts and since my budget was extremely limited I sure wasnt going to pay $40 for a couple pieces of rubber. Some socket head bolts and rubber hose would suffice and I managed to tuck them in under the body work pretty nicely.







I put all the body work back on and took her for her first ride in over 15 years.


5 Miles (to the local country store and back) was a good first ride to make sure everything was safe and running ok:




I was leaving doing more to the bike up to whether or not I liked riding it so I mounted up the GPS:


and took a few longer rides:





Cosmetically the bike was challenged but it was a nice ride even though I consider myself a sportbike fan. She was really more of a sport/tourer in this configuration but I didnt mind the ride so I decided to keep working on her.


The windshield was cracked when I got it. Its not factory and not the best design in the first place so I modded it a little for greater wind deflection:


I was missing a side cover (follow up coming) and decided to put the rear rack on it just to offer a place to tie stuff down:



I went ahead and started to polish up the neglected alloy. I have a machine method that works pretty well and makes short work of the small parts:



If you look up a couple photos you can see the exhaust was badly yellowed. My machine method also makes short work of that stuff too:

 

So I run across this parts bike that is for sale cheap. I show up to look at it and long story short, hes the same guy that bought a Ford truck I rebuilt the engine on and sold, he loves it still, and makes a me a great deal on the bike, $100. Sold!





I get it home and crank it over. It makes some strange noises but Im hoping I can still get it to run. In the meantime Iv taken all the good parts off it that I needed for the red bike including the tires. I also like the black paint job so I went ahead and decided to move the black parts over and repaint the red parts that Im keeping.

tank and sides swapped:





I finished up the painting on the tail section, fairing and front fender and reinstalled those.




This was my first ever paint job that didnt come out of a rattle can. Its got some flaws and I learned some lessons about gun control and being careful color sanding edges and corners, but overall it was worth the cost.


After riding the bike a few times I decided it was high time to finally get the valves adjusted. Before I did however I wanted to take one last shot at getting the parts bike to fire. The carbs were off it so I just sprayed some starter fluid in the horns and tried it...nothing. I tested for spark and sure enough there wasnt any. Luckily having a little prior experience with these bikes I know that fuse box is troublesome so i started there. I took the main ignition fuses out and cleaned the terminals and fuse ends. One tiny touch of the start button revealed I was successful with a backfire out the intake. A fresh squirt of starter fluid and a quick tap of the starter and she fired right up!

So I decided I wanted to know a little more about the motor so I pulled the carbs from the main bike and moved them over to the parts bike. I hooked up a fuel tank and tried to start it. It wanted to start but just wouldnt quite do it. It kept wanting to fire so I just kept rolling until finally...it sputtered to life! I had sprayed a bunch of Blaster in the cylinders when I got it just in case any rings were stuck. I think that just needed to pump out and finally burn off because one it was running it ran great!


Well this was great but put a slight twist in my plans. I had planned to possibly use the shims from this motor to set the valves on the main bike. I went ahead and pulled each shim and cataloged them, and as it turned out I had what I needed to do the main, so I carefully swapped a few around and made note so I could redo the parts bike if needed. It needs adjustment anyway.

So I buttoned them both up and but the main bike back to road ready for Wednesday riding and its good to know I have a complete running backup motor if I do anything to the main.


After a few long successful rides I just didnt feel like the bike was quite up to snuff. It ran great but I was having starter clutch isses and trans clutch isses as well (grabby). I decided why not just get the parts bike motor detailed, and swapped into the main bike. I took that opportunity to detail the frame and repaint the motor and polish all the shiny bits, but the swap was easy at that point and within a day I was ready to try her out. This motor just feels better all around. Its smoother, the clutch is better, and with riding it more, even a slight starter isse seems to be working itself out.


I put the bike up for sale on this forum but Im still riding her almost daily, and will be making a few more mods if I decide to keep her (different handlebars, peg relocation and maybe a sport fairing). Im happy to be riding again after almost 20 years away from it. Word of advice: if you wife to be (or actual wife) tried to dictate what you can do with your free time...start running NOW!

 

nice read, congrats...and amen to your last sentence

 

opps forgot the finished picures after the paint and polishing:











This is what it looks like with the fairing and lowers installed:

 

I envy your garage/shop

 

Nice work!

 

I would like to know your short method of polishing. That looks great! Due tell how you do it.

 

+1

(And very nice work indeed!)

 

I was going to explain the process but while looking for pictures of the products I use I found someone elses write up of exactly my process.

On chrome like on my pipes I went straight for the polishing pad and skipped the surface prep. The polishing compound you use is different for different metals as well.

http://www.suebob.com/index.php?option= ... &Itemid=64

 

I still would like to know what you used. Can you give more details?

 

good deal man. hard to find them factory bags and fairing to your door for $300. Makes a helluva daily don't it?
Don't forget to laugh your balls off when your riding buddies utter the phrase "clean lube and chain adjust"

 

All the info is in that link. I use an angle griner for mechanical power, I use the gator surface prep pads to clean and smooth (think of them like a green 3M scrubby pad like you use on your pans, on steroids), then I go straight for the polishing pad with several compounds if needed. Emory compound (grey) followed by a soft metal rouge (reddish brown) and high gloss finish to a near chrome like shine with general purpose white or jewlers rouge depending on which metal Im working on.

one of the things I did building this is resist the urge to buy any new parts I didnt absolutely HAVE to. There were a few things I lucked out in. First the brake problems were there before I bought it, and the previous owner bought a second set of everything planning to get it going but never did. That left me with two complete sets to pick and chose which was the best. This came in handy for the Anti-dive units because there is a little valve in there that was a flat out nightmare to get out to clean. I managed to get a right and left that worked. Same for the calipers. I mixed and matched pistons and bores to get a pair of the best parts.

Basically the only things I needed to buy were the soft parts like seals and all the hard parts just came apart, were cleaned really well and put back together. That meant including the fluid changes I spent less than $300 on replacement parts. Picking up the parts bike for $100 took care of all the rest.

 

Im gonna miss her when she sells.

 

Don't sell it! You don't have much money in it, park it in the corner, maybe ride it once a week. When you get the bug to work on something, you have it.

 

its just the way I work. If I dont have something that need my attention I get bored too fast, and in my case the old addage of "idle hands are the devils playground" is far too true. Ive struggled with many things in my life including debilitating depression. Having a "hardcase" that needs me makes me feel useful and valuable in this world, and that keeps the demons at bay.

I dont want to sell her, I just have to sell her.

 

OUTSTANDING! (CLAP, CLAP, CLAP)

 

After this last trip I realized how sadly lacking I am for some kind of hard lockable storage on the bike. Fortunately I had some parts that came with the bike that I could use. I needed to paint the trunk and install the tail rack it mounts to, but That was no big deal for me. I did almost no prep on the trunk as I just didnt really care and used rattle can to paint it, but it still came out pretty damn good if i do say so myself and matches the bike pretty well.





along side my other pride and joy:



still room for an add on bag and my tiny little softsiders:



I also changed out the old headlight mount as the original had been bent in and out several times to accomidate the fairing and didnt look so good. I took the opportinity to wire in an accessory plug for my GPS as well:


Very stealthy, almost cant be seen from the front:



and I went ahead and mounted the GPS. This is just a wedge mount so I can remove it quickly for storage or to move it to the Celica.



the trunk is the perfect size for the just the bare necessities!



well actually there still room for a bag of chips and some salsa! (and yes the top will still close and lock)




(p.s. I know I have one pipe that blued. After the last motor swap I mistakenly forgot a gasket for that manifold. While doing my carb sync it became apparent I had a vacuum leak and thus a lean cylinder. I corrected the problem but have yet to have time to polish off the pipes). The others are golded also thanks to the last motors slight oil leak...guh. The polishing never ends)

 

your other "pride & joy" needs a wash and wax...LOL

 

lol, I know. It hasnt seen much road time or attention this summer at all.

I wonder why that is?